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Don’t Put Your Athletic Career On The Line: Four Reasons Choosing NSF Certified for Sport Supplements Is A Smart Move

Posted by
THE FUEL Nutrition Editorial Staff
on December 02, 2015

Contaminated and adulterated supplements are a huge problem for athletes.
The problem is so widespread and harmful that in November the U.S Justice
Department filed charges against 117 companies and individuals for selling
tainted or misleading products.

The arrests came on the heels of a series of cease-and-desist letters
that were issued by the New York State attorney general’s office to Walmart,
Walgreens, Target, and GNC after they found that roughly four out of five of
products contained none of the herbs
listed on their labels. In most cases, the supplements contained cheap fillers
like rice, beans, peas, and chopped up house plants.

A lot of athletes and coaches ignore the news that sports supplements
contain illegal or harmful ingredients. They assume that if a product is
available on store shelves it must be okay. After all, isn’t someone regulating
this sort of thing?

The surprising answer is no. Although, the FDA does put out consumer alerts, issue injunctions, and send out
warning letters when companies are found selling fraudulent supplements, there’s virtually NO up front
regulation of the supplement industry. Supplements are not required to be
evaluated or proven safe or effective before they are sold.

Companies are supposed to
ensure that their supplements contain what the label says, be free of
contaminants such as heavy metals, and not be spiked with drugs or other
substances that can have a host of harmful effects, including scoring you a
positive result on a drug test for performance enhancing drugs. But because there is no regulation, it’s
become standard practice for unscrupulous companies to spike supplements with
anabolic steroids and other banned substances.

For example, the illegal compound DMAA, which is similar to ephedra and
stimulates the nervous system, was found in a supplement taken by two U.S. army
soldiers who died in 2011. That wasn’t an isolated case either.

A 2004 study found that 18 percent of supplements in the U.S. contained
undeclared anabolic steroids in the them. A 2001 study commissioned by the International Olympic
Committee, found that nearly 15 percent of sports supplements (634 products
from 215 suppliers in 13 countries) tested positive for undeclared prohibited
substances (anabolic agents or stimulants).

Although
some athletes have responded by avoiding supplements altogether, others have
found their careers in shambles following a positive drug test, which was
subsequently traced to a tainted supplement. For example, Will Grier,
University of Florida’s starting quarterback, was suspended for a year starting
in October 2015 after he recorded a positive drug test from taking an
over-the-counter sports supplement that he neglected to run by his medical
staff.

Grier’s
not the only athlete to watch his athletic dreams come to a screeching halt due
to contaminated supplements. In 2008, six NFL players were suspended after
testing positive for a banned diuretic, bumetanide, which was traced to a
weight loss supplement the players were taking. That same year, Jessica Hardy,
an Olympic swimmer, tested positive for clenbuterol, an asthma medication that
boosts muscle growth, which was traced to contamination of a supplement called
Arginine Extreme.

Dr.
Jeff Stout, an expert on supplements and sports nutrition, stresses that the
only option is for athletes and coaches is to be relentlessly proactive. He
recommends that every athlete answer three questions before taking any
supplement:

Will
this supplement help me?

Will
it hurt me?

And
most important, will it make me test positive on a drug test?

“Unless you know for sure, you shouldn’t be taking it,”
Stout says, adding that he’s so concerned about this problem that he wouldn't
let his daughter take an herbal supplement when she’s sick.

The
only way to know for sure is to choose a supplement that is certified by the National Science Foundations
Certified for Sport program. Because we
believe in backing up all our claims with proof, we got all supplements in The
Fuel Nutrition line NSF for Sport certified. Besides ensuring that you get what
you pay for and you don’t test positive for a banned substance, here are four
more reasons why the NSF Certification is a smart move for your supplements.

1: No need to sacrifice
recovery, performance, or health.

Sacrificing
recovery because some company thinks it’s funny to put DMAA in your favorite
post-workout supplement isn’t an option. With all the training, sweating, and
stress your body is under day in and day out, you need extra nutrition to
ensure that you’re at your best when the coach calls on you. Nutrient depletion
isn’t something you can take a chance with.

The
scientific evidence clearly supports the use of some types of dietary
supplements for faster recovery and better performance. There’s no reason you
shouldn’t be able to get the best quality supplements to support your training.
That’s where The NSF Certified for Sport program comes in: It’s the gold
standard in ensuring products are what they say they are.

2: It provides transparency in
an industry what is riddled with fraudulent claims and adulteration.

Because
supplements aren’t regulated, companies are on their honor to make sure that
what is on the label is really in the container. Anyone can start a company,
get a web site, and make up a product. They perform no testing, and then slap
performance-enhancing claims on the labels.

That’s
why when we designed The Fuel Nutrition supplements, we chose only the highest
quality, research proven raw materials. Each nutrient is chosen with a purpose
in mind—to give you the edge.

We
believe that in a “Wild West” industry, top quality companies have the
responsibility to lead the way by
bringing integrity and transparency to the forefront. We chose to ease your mind, verifying our supplements for purity with the NSF
Certified for Sport Program. The NSF certification proves our word is true and
makes it easy for you to check—explore the NSF database here. Not
only is every batch and product tested for purity and label accuracy, but every
claim we make is 100 percent accurate.

3: Protect your career and
reputation.

Very
few athletes realize that when they take non-NSF certified supplement they
could be putting their career and reputation on the line. But there’s a long
list of athletes who have traced positive doping tests back to tainted
supplements.

Even
if you are as lucky as Olympic swimmer Jessica Hardy who was able to convince
the World Anti-Doping Agency that she had inadvertently taken a contaminated
supplement, it’s a lot harder to convince the media, companies you endorse, and
the public that it was just a mistake. Hardy ended up with a one year ban
instead of two year ban for her lobbying efforts, but it's impossible to escape
the cloud of suspicion that follows all those media reports.

4: Don’t take the fall for
another’s mistake.

Not
all supplements are compromised due to intentional contamination. Mistakes get
made in the manufacturing process that can easily lead to accidental
contamination.

A
lot of people think the company that sells a product is in charge of everything
from sourcing the raw materials to placing the container on a sales shelf or in
a box for shipping. In fact, there’s often a long supply chain in which
supplement sellers rely on manufacturers, transporters, labelers, and so on. A
lot can go wrong before a supplement reaches your door.

For
example, if a protein powder is shipped or produced with the same equipment as
another product it can easily be contaminated with trace residue. It’s similar
to the problem of gluten contamination of non-gluten grains when they are
processed or transported.

The
NSF Certified for Sport label takes the guesswork out of the equation and makes
sure you won’t fall for another’s mistake since every batch is tested for purity
and quality. For instance, in the case of fish oil, the NSF tests for rancidity
annually to make sure that each capsule maintains the utmost quality. Additionally, the NSF reviews every product
formulation, label, and marketing prior to certification. It continues to
monitor products, reviewing them three times per year and does random sampling
for test selection from both distribution centers and store shelves.